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I discovered today that my CPAP machine is under a global recall for gassing users with toxic chemicals & microplastics. So that’s nice. I’m on the list for a free, non-toxic replacement but I’m still left with the worry of what I’ve already been exposed to, on top of not having one to help my apnea

Four days post flight and I’m finally starting to feel human again. Jet lag is a real beast, and combined with more leg flare ups I’ve been dizzy and hobbling when not sleeping for 18 hours. Still feels worth it though. I just miss the breakfast buffets!

Home at last! Got in 6am yesterday after 23 hours in the air and then slept for 19 hours. Feel better for it, & also here’s my stash of whisky in all its glory! The Tupperware is full of 20ml sample bottles so there’s going to be some great tasting evenings ahead! Overall, 11/10 would holiday again.

Day 31 evening meal was at Hellfire in Temple Bar, Dublin. Excellent steakhouse restaurant where I finally got to try a Tomahawk steak (medium rare with whipped garlic butter), and it was every bit as delicious as the price tag would suggest. A final hurrah for our trip! Will definitely have again!

Last day: managed to squeeze everything in luggage & still be under the weight limit somehow. Whisky/whiskey divided evenly between Em & I for customs, & we’re off to the National Museum to see the exhibit on gold artefacts and bog body clothing (not the actual bog bodies though). Goodbye Dublin!

Another bucket list item achieved: getting my face printed on a head of Guinness foam. It’s officially called a “STOUTie” and it cost €8. Emily also appears on it, although she wasn’t in the original photo so it must be a miracle. Half way through the pint the image was definitely haunted. Slainté!

Day 29/30 - Dublin is a beautiful city and the weather has been pretty kind as far as rain goes. We found our way to the all-new Museum of Oddities, a sort of Cabinet of Curiosities place with taxidermy and old medical equipment and odd paraphernalia. It was quirky, especially the dental phantoms!

Newgrange yesterday, or Brú na Boinné in Gaelic, & we got to walk around tombs that make Stonehenge look new & faddish. There was a sense of age & purpose to the rocks here, & it was very well curated & explained. One of the kerbstones (pic 3) is possibly the oldest lunar calendar in the world.

On the way back to Belfast we went through the Dark Hedges, a gnarly tree-lined road that is famous for being gnarly & old & also was on Game of Thrones. It’s also the birthplace of the ‘Dark Hodges’, my evil twin. Beware! They’re like me only also gnarly and old, and driven to madness by bad coffee

Carrick-a-Rede and the Giant’s Causeway today, with a detour through Bushmills Distillery. Beautiful scenic northern Irish coastline and a delicious exclusive dram! I’m going to have to cull my luggage to make room; I think some of my tshirts & shoes will be sacrificed. Moritūrī tē salūtant!

Belfast: Day 25 - Ulster Museum for a thought-provoking display on the Troubles, and then next door to the Botanic Gardens to see where they breed the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath (cleverly disguised as a Victorian-era greenhouse). Dinner at Belfast Castle (cleverly disguised as a castle) was delish

From our boat ride to see dolphins in Inverness: Emily does SouthPark cosplay and it has nothing to do with the biting cold wind, honest.

Touched down in Belfast and got to try the native supply straight away: it’s nicer than from the can in Australia! I assume the closer one gets to St James’ Gate the better it tastes; will update after further research.

Once again the Sunflower Lanyard helped me get through check-in and boarding with minimal anxiety. The airport staff are super friendly to folk with disabilities and I think they like helping us get on ahead of the First Class passengers :P I did find myself unconsciously exaggerating my limp though

Last night in Inverness was one of good food and good music, at Hootananny’s in the main drag. Listened to a pair of lads crank out jigs and covers of The Boss with an accordion and acoustic guitar, while eating up-market fish n chips on the dining balcony. A nice cap to our time in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Day ??? Inverness to Belfast via Heathrow. Got to wander the iconic Leakey’s Bookshop in Inverness before we left, as well as the local Museum & Art Gallery, where I discovered the Scots Gaelic name for the Water Vole is “Bad Alan”. Ooooh that Alan, watch out, he’s a bad ‘un! #crankyscotsvole

Crossed a major moment off my bucket list this morning: ate haggis on the shores of Loch Shiel in the village of Glenfinnan. As a lifelong fan of the movie Highlander it was necessary to make this pilgrimage. Gluten free so I could share the feast with Emily!

The Scottish geographical equivalent of Boaty McBoatface; I give you Loch Lochy. The Lochiest Loch that ever loched.

Missed out on Ben Nevis Distillery as we went through Fort William. It’s open weekends for the next three months, but not today (Saturday May 31st). So I’ll have a dram with dinner at the Glenfinnan House Hotel tonight and sip it overlooking Loch Shiel as the sun sets. What a tragic life I lead!

View from the window of our room at Craigag Lodge in Glenfinnan as we arrived - I think we’re in the right place 💜

Day 21: Glasgow to Glenfinnan. Rainy introduction to the Highlands but it’s so beautiful here. Hills with tops shrouded in cloud, vast green valleys, tumbling streams down every rocky surface. Stopped for yarn & whisky in Fort William: much bigger town than I expected given how small they all are!

First cat cafe experience was definitely worth it. They just frolic and wander and you get to pat them when they come close! And they try and steal your food in adorable ways but you’re not allowed to let them. The sphinxes were the friendliest: I had one sitting behind me playing with my hair!

Feeling a bit better after a day of bed rest, so we’re off to the Purrple Cat Cafe in Glasgow to be surrounded by the healing purrs of 30 kitties. Pics to follow.

Day 19 - Rest day in Glasgow as I have a cold again and my legs are being a problem. Em is off adventuring at wool mills and yarn shops and textile museums, while I stay snuggled up in the studio apartment we cleverly rented. Might go out for coffee later but don’t have to, which helps. Blah.

An actual Haggis, in the museum display on environmental diversity. What more proof do you need for the existence of these elusively tasty beasts?

At Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Say hello to Sir Roger and his friends!

Took a cheeky diversion into blended whisky with one bottle: it’s a blend of four single-cask Caol Ila 15 year olds so it’s pretty niche still. Notes of burnt honey & meadow flowers (I’m still learning how to translate tasting notes: it may be complete fiction but it’s what my brain registered!)

Day 17 and Islay time comes to an end. Charming, quaint, blessedly cold weather, & warm welcomes; I won’t miss the single lane “roads” but I will miss the festive spirit in all senses. I have been positively awash with whisky tastings, & test the customs limit on alcohol to get everything home.

Spent the afternoon in a rain-soaked field making illicit whisky in a home-made still (pictured). Bloody brilliant. The guy running it said at the end he officially can’t tell us we can drink it, and that it’s best used as hand sanitizer. Welp, my hands will smell of bootleg whisky then! Magic!

Bruichladdich’s Rock’ndaal is exactly what I hoped for in a whisky festival event. Great live music, fresh oysters, excellent drams and cool rainy weather (despite the blue skies in the picture most of the afternoon was grey). 10/10 would Rock again

Just bought the most expensive bottle of whisky of my life. Bruichladdich Octomore 15, Aged 10 years. It’s like smoky toffee and dark chocolate. A true prize for a great holiday experience.

Halfway point of the trip! It’s been a whirlwind compared with my everyday life but aside from some medical woes I’ve pretty much kept up with it all. My phone reports that I’m averaging 9000 steps a day even with bad legs and avoiding long walks, so I think I can be a bit proud of myself. Onward!

Legs are really holding me back. I can walk at a slow totter even with compression bandages and hills are nigh impossible, not a great combo with a Scottish island festival. Staff are being very accommodating but damnit I was hoping to do so much more. Waiting for my first tour at Lagavulin now. XS

Kilchoman kiln, stills and barrel storage. Each area of the production process has an amazing smell, most of them pleasant but all of them interesting. Kilchoman is one of the first of the new gen distillers, using science to get a good dram after only 5 years aging. Newer ones can do it in 3!!

Day 13; Kilchoman. Home of the whisky that made me fall in love with single malts, I have been keen to visit Kilchoman since I first tasted it in 2014. Fell in with a lovely tour group of US nerds, and enjoyed a great tasting session after seeing how the dram is made. Such rich smells!

Day 12 of 31: Glasgow to Islay. Scenic route around Loch Lomond and a visit to Inverary Castle, then Kennacraig Ferry port and across to Port Ellen. Cold has passed, knees still sore but I’m managing a fair bit of walking regardless. Considering getting a walking stick for extra balance & support

I tried Haggis for the first time from a roadside food cart on the way to Kennacraig. It’s like someone took a handful of bitumen road gravel and made it edible. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it! It’s like all the crispy leftover bits in the pan after a fry-up. We’ll see how gourmet Haggis stands up!

Well I turned that around! Just drove 2.5 hours from Hadrian’s Wall to the hotel in Glasgow and conquered the anxious doubts of earlier. I can be better if I just ignore the negative self talk! Here’s me and Em with more Wallace & Gromit to celebrate

Wrestling with the first flare-up of anxiety for this trip, mainly focused on driving. I did a stint behind the wheel from York to Wensleydale but then I had a panic when I couldn’t get the car into reverse and noped out. Emily has been a brick about it but I really don’t want this to be a habit.

York to Glasgow today, via Wensleydale for cheese and yarn and Hadrian’s Wall (Housesteads) for history stuff. Bonus giant crocheted Wallace and Gromit with the cheese-making tour.

Missing out on York today because of this stupid cold. Booo.

Woke up with a cold today, which sucks because it’s our day of lots of driving and I probably can’t help. Stupid lurgi. Unimpressed. Send healing kittens pls.

Today was Bath for the Roman Baths and Castle Combe for the idyllic country village. The baths were amazing; Roman engineering beat the heck out of anyone else for the next 1800 years. I thought the spring in Bath was volcanic but it’s geothermal, which means the water doesn’t taste of minerals.

In less good news I’ve had really bad legs the last few days. They feel like overinflated balloons from the knees down and my balance and my walking stamina have been negligible. They’re puffy and swollen as well. It’s not DVT from the flight, I’m assuming it’s from hypertension. It’s not helping.

Limestone curtain wall in Gough’s Cave, Cheddar. This is a good 400m in at the end of the public tour area, where it’s nice and cool and damp. The cave system was full of lit up inflatable dinosaurs which I forgot to photograph, but they were tasteful and true to the original contents.

Bucolic - adjective; relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life. “Somerset is bucolic as fuck” - Emily (2025)

I have 4 bars reception at Stonehenge, because of course I do. (It’s stunning.)

Avebury rocks.

Briefly saw the Tower of London. Failed to see any ominous ravens, buried ancient king heads or decapitated ghosts. 4/10 Disappointed.